


practice makes perfect (but hard stuff is still hard stuff, nothing can change that, darling)

by beepbedeep



Category: Atypical (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, absolute nonsense!, but cute!!, izzie and casey being real real cute i promise, this is nonsense!, three different ficlets stuck together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 11:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21475180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beepbedeep/pseuds/beepbedeep
Summary: All this to say, Izzie doesn’t know how best friends are supposed to feel, or how to be a good one. But that’s what Casey is, right? The very best friend she’s ever had.
Relationships: Casey Gardner/Izzie
Kudos: 51





	practice makes perfect (but hard stuff is still hard stuff, nothing can change that, darling)

“Best friends” – Izzie’s never really had a best friend before. Not since the 1st grade, before her mom got hurt and everything went to hell. Izzie’s walls are strong, they keep her safe, she’s proud of them, but making friends is a lot harder now. It’s not like she doesn’t have them, she has friends at school who she sees every day, exchanging small talk and pop culture facts and running tips with, but they don’t even know her taste in books, not to mention other things. The walls don’t allow for that. 

Nate is pretty nice because of this – he’s not really interested in getting to know her and he’s relatively kind, relatively funny, so he makes for a good distraction. (the most she’s ever cared about his existence was when he tried to kiss Casey, and that was different. At the time she’d been surprised with herself – Izzie didn’t think she cared about Nate anywhere close to that much – realizing she was scared of losing Casey made so much more sense.) So, Izzie runs and lives alongside people who don’t really know anything about her. And it’s fine. Really. (if she’s lonely, if she feels like a guest in her own life, there isn’t enough time in the day for her to fix things anyway.)

All this to say, Izzie doesn’t know how best friends are supposed to feel, or how to be a good one. But that’s what Casey is, right? The very best friend she’s ever had. The difference between Casey and everyone else she’s ever met is that Casey knows her, in a way that defies every careful wall Izzie has put up. Casey scales the fortress-that-Izzie’s-scared-she’s-become with ease, so fast that Izzie isn’t sure what happened – except that now feels better than before. And Izzie wants her to. Usually she likes being small, hidden, fictional, happy version of herself, wrapped in any protection the world has to offer. But with Casey, it is different. Izzie is lost, but she wants to return. She wants to be known. She wants to be seen again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Evan is . . . not fast. (like physically, at running) He’s slow, like armadillo slow, and it’s cute, Casey thinks, after all, shouldn’t a relationship involve contrast? Different people good at different things? (would their relationship even be interesting if both people were good at running?)  
It’s cute, but he doesn’t get it at ALL, why she loves running so much, but still he cheers for her, shows up for her, even if it’s never quite on the edge of excitement. He’s trying. He’s trying really hard and she likes him for it, but he still doesn’t get running. He walks, and smiles, but he doesn’t understand . . . and running is kind of Casey’s whole thing.  
That's why Izzie is so special, because she gets it. Even among other runners, Casey cares more than most, except for Izzie. And she might not always be nice about running, but she does understand. It doesn’t mean she makes anything easier, but when Evan stares at Casey, he looks at her like she’s a Christmas ornament, like she's shiny and holds the world in her palms. Izzie looks at her . . . like a person.) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two girls in love, but they don’t know it yet. It’s a crush, of course it is, because the way Casey is acting isn’t the way you talk about meeting a friend, and it’s not the way she’s talked about anyone before. The way she squirms, the fluttery feeling, the desperate need to be around Izzie as much as possible and the way her skin feels too tight whenever Izzie brushes her shoulder, none of this is actually how BFFs start.


End file.
